(14) He made also bases.--And the bases he made; and the lavers he made upon the bases. This repetition of the verb is suspicious; and the parallel text shows the right reading to be and the bases ten (in number), and the lavers ten upon the bases. "Ten" in Hebrew writing closely resembles "he made." The LXX. renders, "And the bases he made ten, and the lavers he made upon the bases;" which shows that the corruption of the text is ancient.

Verse 14. - Bases. The first mention of these in Chronicles, on which so much is said in the parallel (1 Kings 7:27-39). The Hebrew word is מְכונָה, occurring eighteen times in Kings, twice in Chronicles, once in Ezra, and three times in Jeremiah. These bases were, as may be learnt more fully in the parallel, pedestals of brass four cubits square by three and a half high, supported by wheels a cubit and a half in diameter. The pedestals were richly decorated with mouldings, and with the similitudes of lions, oxen, and cherubim, and with other subordinate ornamental work, and were designed to bear the layers, the use of which is given in ver. 6. Vers. 6-16 in our chapter strongly suggest, in their repetitiousness, the writer's resort to different sources and authorities for his matter.

4:1-22 The furniture of the temple. - Here is a further account of the furniture of God's house. Both without doors and within, there was that which typified the grace of the gospel, and shadowed out good things to come, of which the substance is Christ. There was the brazen altar. The making of this was not mentioned in the book of Kings. On this all the sacrifices were offered, and it sanctified the gift. The people who worshipped in the courts might see the sacrifices burned. They might thus be led to consider the great Sacrifice, to be offered in the fulness of time, to take away sin, and put an end to death, which the blood of bulls and goats could not possibly do. And, with the smoke of the sacrifices, their hearts might ascend to heaven, in holy desires towards God and his favour. In all our devotions we must keep the eye of faith fixed upon Christ. The furniture of the temple, compared with that of the tabernacle, showed that God's church would be enlarged, and his worshippers multiplied. Blessed be God, there is enough in Christ for all.See Introduction to Chapter 4